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Homeschooling a Gifted Child Is Scary

Homeschooling a gifted child is a scary thing. That is just me being honest. If she were my only child and I had not experienced the education my oldest had at a private school, I wouldn’t know any different. If I didn’t know how important some skills were and the education needed to receive high test scores and scholarships I wouldn’t know any different.

If I didn’t see the impact it made on applying for colleges, it wouldn’t be a big deal and I would be much more laid back.

But I do know and I can’t undo that. I know when elementary gets harder as well as middle and high school and what it takes when that happens.

I also know that the happiness of my child is important and that I have to find balance.

My child only wants to learn what she is interested in. We go down a lot of rabbit holes. Too many to count.

And rabbit holes are the right way to go. My issue is figuring out how to incorporate everything she needs to learn while doing that. To present it in a fun and interesting way that appeals to her.

That is the hard part. It is incredibly hard to keep up with her. I have to morph myself to become an outside the box thinker that is ahead of her. I have to be creative for the subjects that are not as intriguig to her. And the pressure of that is overwhelming sometimes. But, it is a puzzle. One that I need to figure out.

I am currently working on a new strategy. One that hopefully will work and that I will really be able to dig into when Madison is at camps. I am going to work backwards. I am going to see what she needs to know from the highest level and then work down. After that, I am going to find creative ways for her to learn it all in a way that she loves. Because if she doesn’t learn it, I will feel as though I have shut the doors for her.

And I know first hand how important those open doors are. I am the one solely responsible for making sure they are open.

Sometimes seeing the big picture is a curse, but in this instance my gut tells me it isn’t. I just need to become more creative.

Someone once told me that if a child ‘checks out’ or is ‘bored’ it is not the child who is at fault. It is the person that is teaching them is not engaging them.